import ComparisonTable from ’../../components/ComparisonTable.astro’;
This comparison comes with an important note: Adobe XD is effectively discontinued. Adobe has shifted investment to Figma (following its attempted acquisition) and Adobe Express. For new projects, this comparison is primarily relevant if you’re considering migrating away from XD.
The State of the Market
Figma dominates UI/UX design. Adobe attempted to acquire Figma for $20B (blocked by regulators in 2024), and Adobe XD has received minimal updates since. The industry has moved.
Feature Comparison
<ComparisonTable headers={[“Feature”, “Figma”, “Adobe XD”]} rows={[ [“AI generation”, “First Draft, Autoname, Make Designs”, “Limited (Firefly integration)”], [“Collaboration”, “Real-time multiplayer”, “Co-editing (limited)”], [“Components”, “Advanced (variants, properties)”, “Basic”], [“Prototyping”, “Advanced interactions”, “Good”], [“Dev handoff”, “Dev Mode (strong)”, “Specs (adequate)”], [“Plugin ecosystem”, “1,000+ plugins”, “Limited”], [“Figma Sites”, “Yes (web publishing)”, “No”], [“FigJam (whiteboard)”, “Yes”, “No”], [“Active development”, “Yes (major releases)”, “No (maintenance only)”], [“Community files”, “Massive”, “Small”], ]} />
Figma AI Features
First Draft: Generate complete UI screens from text prompts. Describe a login screen, dashboard, or onboarding flow — Figma generates a structured layout.
Autoname: AI automatically names layers as you design, eliminating one of the most tedious parts of Figma cleanup.
Make Designs: Select components and use natural language to generate design variations quickly.
Figma AI Search: Find specific components and assets across files using natural language.
These features meaningfully accelerate design production for existing Figma users.
Adobe XD’s Position
Adobe XD launched in 2016 as a strong Sketch and InVision competitor. After the failed Figma acquisition:
- Feature development has essentially stopped
- Adobe’s design investment shifted to Express and Firefly
- XD’s team was largely redistributed
- Adobe offers migration tools to move XD files to other tools
If you’re on XD, Adobe’s own guidance is to migrate. This isn’t a “Figma wins” comparison — it’s “XD is being discontinued.”
Adobe’s Current Design Ecosystem
Adobe is building its design future around:
- Figma (Adobe has licensing deals after failed acquisition)
- Adobe Express (AI-powered, broader consumer use)
- Creative Cloud + Firefly (image generation integrated into Photoshop/Illustrator)
XD is not in that roadmap.
Migrating from Adobe XD to Figma
If you’re on XD:
- Use Adobe’s XD → Figma migration plugin
- Expect imperfect migration — some components need rebuilding
- Component libraries need manual recreation
- Prototype flows partially transfer
Most teams do the migration in 1-2 sprints and report the switch improves their workflow.
Alternatives to Consider
If for some reason Figma doesn’t fit:
- Sketch (Mac only, good for small teams)
- Penpot (open-source, Figma alternative)
- Framer (more advanced interactions, web-first)
- Axure (complex prototyping for enterprise)
Bottom Line
Use Figma. The comparison with Adobe XD is academic at this point — XD is not being actively developed. For anyone in UI/UX design, Figma is the industry standard with the best AI features, collaboration, and ecosystem.